Of Coffee And Kraft Dinner
by Ray-Tiger-Cat
Summary: [Oneshot] Soon after BEGA's defeat, Salima goes to visit Kai at his home and finds him in bad shape. Feeling that she must help, much to his displeasure, Salima sets out to make him better. But caring for Kai proves to be a daunting task!


RTC: Hello all! This is a very strange pairing, so those that don't like those, might be freaked! This is my friend Iluvbeyblade's creation: KaixSalima! It's really good, but so far it only has like 5 entries or something, so I thought I'd change that! This one goes out to Iluvbeyblade herself! Thank you for understanding me better than most (clones unite!) and for reading my work despite the fact that I'm not a big yoai fan! The gift I'd give you if I could is really easy-the cure for writers' block! Now before my muses protest, can someone do the disclaimer!

Tyson: (Laughs at Kai.) Only in someone's imagination would Kai have a romantic moment, so that means that Ray-Tiger-Cat does not own Beyblade!

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"So tired. So incredibly tired," Kai muttered to himself as he entered his apartment. "Stupid Tyson. He just had to draw out that battle with Brooklyn, didn't he?"

"Nobody told you to get out of bed and come down here. You're supposed to be resting," his team mates' voices rang in his head. He knew that despite the lectures he was given, that they appreciated his efforts.

"Stupid Brooklyn," Kai added. "If it weren't for him, I'd be fine. Evil Boris..." Kai collapsed on his bed and fell asleep.

Kai awoke to someone knocking on his door. He groaned and rolled over, as though that would cause the knocker to leave. He didn't want company, he wanted sleep.

"Kai? Are you in there? Your team mates are really worried about you," a female voice called and Kai struggled to place it. It wasn't Hilary, he knew that, and besides, Hilary was a part of the team and so, wouldn't have said 'your team mates'. So who was this person?

"Kai, this isn't funny. No one's heard from you in days and we're all worried!"

'It isn't a voice I've heard recently,' Kai thought as he struggled to get up; his curiosity having gotten the best of him. Feeling light-headed and dizzy, Kai stumbled down the hall, leaning on the wall for much needed support and finally reached the door. He peered through the peep hole and almost immediately recognized Salima.

"What are you doing here?" he barked as he opened the door.

"I'm checking up on you, what does it look like I'm doing?" she replied, slightly put off by his greeting. "Do you realize that it's been two whole days since anyone seen or heard from you?! Your team is going nuts and are probably searching the city for you!"

"Two days? Have I really been asleep that long?" Kai wondered aloud and instantly regretted it.

"You've been asleep this whole time?" Salima asked. "Hey, are you okay?" she added, for he had gone very pale. The next thing she knew, Kai had collapsed into her arms.

"Stupid male ego," she muttered as she struggled with his weight while also attempting to close and lock the front door.

Looking around, she saw two doorways. One was obviously the kitchen, and the other was the hall that Kai had come through, though Salima obviously didn't know that.

"There has better be a bed of couch or something for me to put him down on."

Half-carrying, half-dragging Kai down the hall, Salima managed to get Kai to his bedroom.

"Oh thank God," she muttered after she spotted the unmade bed Kai had gotten out of minutes earlier.

After placing him back under the covers, Salima deduced that he was slightly feverish and had obviously drained himself by going down to the match.

Deciding she might as well go find something for Kai to eat once he woke up, Salima wandered into the kitchen. Her hopes that Kai would have enough ingredients to cook something were quickly dashed as she opened the refrigerator and only found a half-carton of milk, a piece of stale bread, some butter and a bottle of ketchup.

"Oh, gimme a break!" Silently cursing Kai for being such a stereotypical guy, she started raiding the cupboards.

"Two apples, a can of spaghetti sauce, some tea bags and... seven jars of coffee?! Why does he need so much?! Anyways, let's see what else is here." Salima said, as though there was actually someone listening. "Unopened bottle of maple syrup, empty jar of peanut butter, and... cat food?! I don't think I want to know... Oh, finally something edible!" Smirking in triumph, Salima pulled out two boxes of Kraft Dinner.

After locating the utensils needed to cook the KD, Salima put the macaroni to boil and went to check on Kai. To her amazement, he was actually awake and trying to sit up.

"You nut-job! Are you trying to make yourself sick?!"

"Go away. I'm fine."

"Yeah, right. Now you just stay put and I'll bring you something to eat."

"Not hungry," he muttered.

"Kai Hiwatari! Your team mates warned me that you can be a real pain, but I didn't think that you'd be so bloody damn stubborn! You are eating, whether you like it or not! I just spent the past twenty minutes ploughing through your million jars of coffee and tins of cat food! You are not telling me you're not eating!" Salima fixed Kai with her deathliest glare, the one that even scared Dr. B. Kai attempted to glare back, but found that it was a lot harder when you have a bandage covering half your face, including one eye.

With a satisfied smirk, Salima left the room and re-emerged a few minutes later with a bowl of KD, a glass of milk and some apple slices.

"What am I, five years old?" Kai asked sarcastically, but quickly put a spoonful of macaroni in his mouth after seeing Salima's expression.

"That's right, Hiwatari. You should be scared. Now eat."

Spotting a phone in the room, Salima realized she'd better call Kai's team mate before they demolished the city looking for him. They'd thought it was unlikely that Kai would actually be at home, so they'd hastily given the job of checking there to someone with much less experience with dealing with Kai.

"Yeah, hey, it's Salima... Believe it or not, Kai was actually at home... He's pretty tired... Apparently he's been sleeping this whole time. I think you're rubbing off on him, Tyson!... Yeah, we're fine. I'll talk to you later! Bye!" Kai heard Salima's end of the conversation. He hadn't meant to worry them all. Kai groaned as he felt another headache come on a groped for the painkillers on his bedside table.

Upon hearing his groan, Salima turned around to see Kai holding a bottle of painkiller upside down, as though hoping the pills were stuck as opposed to having run out.

"Kai, you okay?"

Headache. It's nothing," he replied, cursing the fact those migraines came on so fast and without any warning.

Salima shook her head at this. 'Ego. His stupid ego will never allow him to admit weakness. Stupid pride." Fishing around in her purse, Salima found her bottle of painkillers, took two out and handed them to Kai, who didn't even so much as look at her before downing the little while tablets. He made to go back to sleep, but the pointed look Salima gave him was enough to get him to finish his meal before drifting off.

Salima got off the edge of the bed and moved herself to a small couch just across from it. 'Man, he looks so sweet asleep. Like a little angel. Stupid twat,' she thought to herself before falling asleep herself.

Kai awoke several hours later and looked around Sitting up, he spotted the red head curled up on the couch, fast asleep. Climbing out of bed caused pain to shoot through Kai's wounds, but something just drew him to her. After sitting down next to Salima, he gently prodded her, almost childishly.

"Mmmm... what is it?" she mumbled, still half-asleep. Suddenly remembering where she was, she bolted upright. "Ack, sorry Kai! I'm still a bit jet-lagged!" Then came her accusing glare. "You shouldn't be out of bed."

"Never mind. I feel better. Now you never explained to me why you were back in Japan," he said, hoping this would distract her.

"Oh, that, erm, well, I saw your first match with Brooklyn and I was seriously worried that Boris would actually take over. I mean if Brooklyn could beat you, what chance did anyone else have?"

Kai pondered what she had just said. 'Does she mean that she thinks no one can be more powerful than me? Maybe she... no, I'm clearly loosing it!' Kai looked up to see Salima's expecting face. 'Oh she wants an intelligent response! Why is it so hard for me to talk to her?!'

"Come on, you didn't think we'd let that happen! I can take Brooklyn, as can many others."

"It's not that. I was... worried that, you know, they'd hurt you. I read some articles from way back involving you and Boris..." Salima blushed furiously after admitting that.

"You were worried about me? And not about Ray?"

"What? Oh, you actually thought?" She started laughing. "No, no! Ray's with Mariah! I thought he'd tell you that! We were never more than friends!" 'So nice to know Kai makes mistakes too.'

It was now Kai's turn to blush. "I... It's just..."

"It's okay; I can understand your reasoning. We met alone on a bridge late at night. He stayed out most of the night waiting for me. But anyway, I figured you'd be target number one for Boris."

"I can handle Boris," Kai said, to try and cover his embarrassment.

"That's why you're in this state, isn't it? Because you can totally handle it on your own." Salima reached over and ruffled his hair affectionately. Kai attempted to glare again, which only caused Salima to double over with laughter.

"What's so funny?" he demanded.

"You!"

"Thanks a lot!"

"No, I like the fact that you always play the tough guy. Makes it all the more cute when you fail at it!"

"Cute?"

If Salima was blushing before, it was nothing compared to now. She'd gone fire-engine red!

"I mean... Erm... I'm such an idiot!"

"That you are, but you know what? It makes you look cute."

The kiss that followed was all too short for Salima's liking, but that was Kai for you. Ever the tough guy. She pouted, but deep down, she knew this was one of the trait's that drew her to Kai.

Kai smirked at her pout. Ever the sweet one. She'd never force him to change; she accepted his as he was. And that's what drew him to her.

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RTC: Well, that was a bit corny towards the end, I know, but I couldn't find a way to leave it! My bad! But I do love this pairing, and am absolutely flabbergasted that it doesn't have more support! My little clone, you really thought up something truly awesome when you wrote this pairing! Love you all, bye!


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